


Oh, Christmas Tree

by somewhereinthesun



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-15
Updated: 2017-12-15
Packaged: 2019-02-15 06:55:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13025637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somewhereinthesun/pseuds/somewhereinthesun
Summary: Day 1 of Twelve Days of Jily Christmas:Prompt #2: both alone at a (christmas) lights turn on





	Oh, Christmas Tree

“Evans.” He does not think she hears him at first, as she does not turn at the sound of his approach. It is cold out and she is bundled appropriately, if she had been attending a Muggle tree lighting event. But this was Diagon Alley and it was the way she dresses that attracts his attention in the first place. Her parka is dark green, looped around her middle with a tight belt and a white fur-lined hood. When she finally looks up at him in silent acknowledgment, he sees her dark red hair is half hidden under a white hat that is pulled down around her ears. Wisps of her thick bangs stick out of the hat, contrasting sharply with the bright color.

“Potter,” she says, in way of acknowledgement. “Where are the lads?”

He leans against the railing in front of them, shrugging off the question. “It’s just Sirius with us. Went to get drinks with Mum and Dad.”

She nods. A wide expanse of everything he wants to say to her appears before him. Nothing seems sufficient. Silence is worse.

He forces himself to say something. “I’m sorry…about your mum.” Her eyes meet his, but they are blank and expressionless, giving away nothing. For a moment he is ashamed he brought it up at all. Perhaps she does not want to be reminded, maybe he has no right to say anything at all. They are, after all, barely friends, thrown at each other in the past few months from circumstance alone. He flounders around to try and make up for the faux pax.

“Peter told me. Well, he told Selena who cornered him and he wanted to know if there was anything we could do for you and she told him to mind his own business but we overheard it. And then he told me. Peter is crap at keeping secrets from us.” 

He remembers the last time he saw her, after the Gryffindor Quidditch win against Ravenclaw towards the end of term, how happy she looked as she hugged him and promised to find him later in the Common Room for a celebratory drink. Things had been so good between them for the weeks leading up to the game. Had it been foolhardy to think there was a reason he had been the first one she had gone to, even though Mary had been subbed in as Seeker at the last moment? Had he been wrong to think there was something more to her smile and her congratulations? 

Her eyes fill with tears and she continues to keep her gaze steady on the dark, tall tree in front of them. People jostle and push around them to try to get a better position for the tree lighting, slated to start at any moment. He wishes Sirius and his parents would appear across the square so he could make his excuses to get away. He thinks he should have just let her be, but knows himself better than that. He would have come over to her regardless. 

“Anyway, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry. Mum and Dad send their regards, too.” He allows himself one more glance at her before turning to go when she reaches out and grasps onto his arm, halting him. She cannot bring herself to ask him to stay, but he recognizes her intent.”

“You told your parents?”

He shrugs and lets her wrap her arms through the crook at his elbow, pulling him back towards her. “Yeah. After your Mum had met my dad over the summer...I just thought they should know.”

She nods, tears still streaming down her cheeks. Snow drifts lightly from the sky and the flakes land on their shoulders, the tips of their noses, and cheeks. 

“She loved Christmas. The lights...when it would snow. She would save getting all of the decorations out for the night I came home from school. We’d have soup for dinner and decorate the tree.”

“I was scared of Christmas trees for much of my childhood,” he confesses. “We decorate with live fairies - nicely, I think. Like the ones in this tree.” He indicates to the gigantic tree in front of them with his other hand, which is so tall its top branches are almost invisible against the dark sky. “They apparently live in pine trees and Dad assured me they weren’t harmed being in our house. But I still was terrified of them. We came to the tree lighting one year when I was small and apparently I just balled the entire time. Ruined everyone’s experience, I’m sure.”

He wants her to laugh and he feels extremely pleased with himself when it works. Her tears stop. She looks up at the darkened tree in front of them and he joins her. At the very top of the tree, a small twinkle blinks in and out as a fairy resettles itself in the branches far above them. 

“I brought Mum last year. Petunia refused to come with us and Dad had to work, but we came down on the train anyway and walked around all the shops and drank spiced cider and hot Butterbeers. I wanted her to see the fairies on the Christmas tree since I’ve always loved the ones put up at school. She was amazed.” She smiles at the memory. “I promised her that I would enchant our Christmas tree next year after I was of age.” She sobers at the realization she will never have the opportunity to do so and tries not to start crying again. 

They lapse into silence, her arm still threaded through his elbow. The crowd jostles around them to get a closer view of the Christmas tree. When the tree lights up, he can feel rather than see her smile. The fairies dance and sparkle from the top down to the very bottom branches. He inhales the fresh scent of pine and hears the vague jingling of a Christmas carol piped into the square. 

“It’s a nice tree,” she finally says, breaking the stillness between them. “Mum would have liked it.” She lets go of his arm and turns to him. 

“Merry Christmas, Potter.”

“Happy Christmas, Evans.”

He watches as she disappears into the crowd, leaving him standing alone. 


End file.
